Hi, my name is Marcela. I’m a co-founder at . It’s been a year since I’ve joined this roller coaster up and down journey. I’m sharing what I should’ve written since I’ve started this. How me being a fashion designer student with no tech knowledge somehow managed to be in one of the best experiences of my life. Polsie August of 2014. I just came back from spending two months in Africa on a mission trip. When you are in the middle of nowhere and you are stuck building blocks from mud, looking at the sunset and people carrying water from a puddle, yes, it’s time to think what you are doing with your life. Somehow, in that August, now back at my home-town in Monterrey, Mexico, I end up at this party. It’s in this terrace in a hipster office in what is the most creative part of the city. I had no idea who worked there, what they did, but everything just seemed so cool. White walls, all kinds of notes written in bright market, custom designed tables, and lots of design books. I was kind of shy there, I only knew a few people and the other ones there seemed to have their own circle. The party was over pretty early, and some friends came over to my place. I meet this guy, who works at the office I had just been to, and me with a little over 4 drinks asks him what they do. Apparently, he owned a web development studio with 2 partners and shared the office with a graphic design studio. Sounded pretty cool. And randomly, with a good attitude, going for it, and not thinking twice I ask for a . “So what are your skills?” he asked me. “What can you do?”. “Well,” I answered, “I’m pretty good at speaking english.”(At this point I continue my whole conversation in english). job Monday comes, and I get a message. “Can you come for an interview?” With nothing else to do, I’m like sure. I go the the office the next day, excited and with no idea what to expect, all dressed in black and to my surprise, Ramon, the guy who I asked for the job was not there. There’s this awkward guy who I’ve never seen before, and he interviews me. After all the “what we do” and “your job will be”, he agreed to have me work for 2 weeks, and then they’ll decide if they hire me. My job would mostly feature talking with clients, making phone calls, sending emails. Secretary stuff I thought, pretty easy. My first week at work, there was really not much for me to do, but I payed attention. They used words like MVP, html, stuff I never heard. I write everything down on a small pretty used moleskine notebook and googled everything I’ve written afterwards. So they ask me to contact this guy, who apparently was a big deal, (turns out it was the founder of Grind Mexico) and pitch him this startup they created called Shark. Shark was a management tool for lawyers and they were looking to sell it. That’s all I knew about it. I send an email, call they guy, meet up with him in some coworking space before he had a conference, pitch Shark in the hallway and well, no one bought it but the guys at the office were really impressed that me not knowing a thing had the guts to go up to this guy and try to sell him a startup. So after 2 weeks, yes, I was officially hired. Startup After maybe 2 months since I started working at the office, one day Ramon comes and tells me about this project. It’s called Polsie. Basically, Polsie lets you build an online store from Instagram. So you could upload a picture from there, add a name and price, and done, it went straight to a site where it could be sold. Nothing had been built yet, except that when you posted a picture on Instagram with #polsie, it uploaded to a site online. “It’s a startup” (*googles startup*) “We want you to be part of it, we will quit the office and dedicate 100% to build Polsie.” “I’m in.” Opportunities do not just come by. I never thought that asking for job and just “knowing English” would open so many doors. To be willing to do something that’s totally new, but with just so much enthusiasm, was what got me here. It’s been more than I year since I’ve met these wonderful people with whom I agreed to go on this long and sometimes stressful journey that’s a startup, and everyday, I’m thankful for it. is how hackers start their afternoons. We’re a part of the family. We are now and happy to opportunities. Hacker Noon @AMI accepting submissions discuss advertising &sponsorship To learn more, , , or simply, read our about page like/message us on Facebook tweet/DM @HackerNoon. If you enjoyed this story, we recommend reading our and . Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted! latest tech stories trending tech stories

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Multiple major automakers have been announcing recall campaigns lately. As reports concerning the Takata air bag recall expansion, a number of car owners are bracing for a long wait before their vehicles can be fully repaired. But as they wait, other recalls associated with issues that could also lead to crashes or injuries are launched. The latest recall impacting a popular brand was launched by BMW. According to the German automaker, the BMW 18 hybrid vehicle is being recalled after the firm learned of an issue associated with the Dynamic Stability Control hydraulic unit. After the part supplier responsible for producing the DSC hydraulic parts contacted BMW to report the units may have experienced a manufacturing error, the company launched the recall to have the issue addressed. The report shows that parts exposed to a manufacturing error may cause the DSC functionalities to become impaired. If that’s the case, the driver may experience a braking and handling issue. Those problems could lead to crashes. In order to avoid accidents, stay safe, and help others stay safe, have your recalled vehicle inspected and repaired promptly. According to the company, service technicians will inspect and replace the DSC hydraulic unit if necessary. If you would like to learn more about this recall and how to have your vehicle fixed promptly and for free, follow . this link Never wait until you’re injured to act and have your car repaired after it’s been linked to a recall campaign. Many issues may lead to deadly accidents or injuries. Ignoring a recall campaign that impacts your vehicle’s equipment could lead to dire consequences.

BMW Hybrid Named in Latest Recall

http://dilbert.com/strip/2001-12-10 Hiring great people is laborious. You have to hunt so hard to find those with the right blend of experience, cultural fit and ambition. Of course hunting is hard only if you are selective about the type of people you want to hire. Great people are hard to find; if you are just looking to add numbers then it is remarkably easy. Most of the hiring process will boil down to a number of interviews. These are vital to uncover omissions, gaps and bad smells with candidates against your chosen bar. I want to share what I look for when hiring architects. Software architects that is, not those who design buildings for a living. This is a relief because as a CTO I wouldn’t be much good at sussing out building designers. Why architects? Well they are senior and have a major role making decisions about how the software product is built. Poor architecture decisions can result in a failed software product. Or a software product that you will pay for over the next 10 years. It pays to hire the right architects. Rory on Architecture What type of architect are you hiring? Which one of the 20+ different types of architect is it you are seeking? Maybe a Architect? Technical Broader. Architect? Solution Too junior. Architect? Senior Solution More grey hair. Architect? Principal More holistic. Architect? System … There are more, many more. Specialist: Architect Application More Specialist: Architect UI Just Hosting: Architect Infrastructure Loves abstractions: Architect Astronaut Focused on system integrations: Architect Integration King of architects: Architect (some say the pinnacle of architects though most of those who say this are Enterprise Architects) Enterprise Apps: Architect iOS InfoSec: Architect Security Certified: Architect TOGAF This is a big part of the challenge when hiring architects. There are so many different types. And worse than this one company’s technical “architect” is different than another company. Oranges are often compared with apples. So try and be clear with yourself before you begin about what characteristics and experience level you are looking for. And be very clear what architecture is and what architects do. You could do worse than visit Wikipedia to begin with, a software expert who makes high-level design choices and dictates technical standards. But if you want to go the top of the class with a more considered view of architecture and the role of the architect you should study : Rory’s explanation An Architect is someone with sufficient experience to make decisions and guide others in the right direction, balancing dogmatism and pragmatism, know that they don’t know everything, understand that they have more they can learn, and above all else understand how they can use others experience and knowledge to guide their decision making. Joel on Software Ten years ago Joel Spolsky wrote . Kinda hard to believe this is TEN years old but it contains some cast-iron advice for hiring programmers. Maybe = No is a golden rule. Smart gets things done is non-negotiable. Both of these apply to many roles beyond developers. But of course with developers we can ask them to write some code or explain some code in an interview. With architects it is more tricky because you can’t easily ask them to design something. The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing and And yet there are many questions you can ask that reveal so much about how your candidate architects thinks, designs, works and learns. It is vital to see how an architect draws since most designs are communicated as drawings or diagrams. So what are the red flags that I look for? Once you find red flags you become a Maybe. And as Joel said Maybe = No. But that’s so very negative. There are lots of positive signs you secretly hope for. These signs give you an impression of what the person will be like if they work for you. Eject, Eject, Eject Turning down candidates does not guarantee they are bad candidates. Or bad people. It just means they won’t fit in well within your organisation for the role you need. So be very clear what your culture is and where your hiring bar sits before you begin hiring. Cutting interviews short can give the wrong impression to candidates. You may not give enough time for them to realise that they’ve missed your hiring bar by a distance (without you telling them). It is much easier for everyone if the candidates realise this before you reveal it. And so if you find any of these you should be about pressing the eject button. In a nice way. thinking No architect experience. Seriously. This happens typically because of a failed screening process. Tighten up your screening. Unable to explain what an architect does. Imagine hiring a doctor who didn’t know clearly what doctors do. Would you trust this doctor with your healthcare? Poor communication. If an architect can’t communicate clearly and succinctly to you in an interview this is unlikely to improve in a team. Architects should be able to fluently speak the language of real people (“business people”) and technical people. Hybrid engineer — manager — consultant — architect — do anything experience. The depth of experience is typically missing if someone hasn’t been focused on an architect role. And no depth will mean questionable decisions. No experience at the level applied for. This is common because lots of folks wants to gain a promotion by moving jobs. I prefer to reserve this privilege for staff. External hires are hired for what they have done not what they could step up to do. No desire to learn, evidence of improvement or keenness to collaborate. Software is a fast-moving profession. If you need to hire COBOL programmers then this is less relevant. But architects need to be continually moving with technologies. Thinks Architecture = Selecting Technologies. Technologies are easy to select. How you use these technologies (design) is much harder. And if your candidate architects hasn’t done design or appreciate design then you should walk away. Hasn’t written any code. Ever. Architects cannot make good decisions about software design without understanding code and engineering. . But if you stick to the smart gets things done you can quickly spot the astronauts. Astronaut Architects and Can’t describe drawbacks to technologies or when not to use them. Those architects who have read the website splash page of a technology can tell you all the situations you should use them but not when to avoid them (because websites don’t usually advertise this). If someone can describe when not to use a technology there is more chance they’ve used it. Remind me, What Should I Look For? Look for as many of these as can be crammed into one human. Clear, succinct verbal communicator not wafflers. Simple, clearly drawn and explained logical and physical design drawings. Architects who can’t draw well won’t be able to do their role. Experience not theory. Architects love to talk about what they could do — I am more interested in what they done (and not done) and why. have Decisive not procrastinators. No point being a decision-maker if it takes an age to get to it. Considered decision makers not rash decision makers. Are they aware of the technology risks before proceeding — even if they take these risks? Whole stack experience not specialists such as front-end, web, back-end, data and integration only. Greenfield architecture experience not maintainers. Have they experience building a new solution that was started with a blank page. Many architects have only had experience maintaining an existing architecture. Simplifiers not complicators. Does the person strive to make things simpler or are they prone to complicating things? Learners not stagnators. Is the person eager to learn and has applied their learnings? Engineer-Architects not Process-Driven Architects. Architects who are current engineers or have been recent engineers. They need at least to be able to understand and write code. Just remember in a hackathon I’d expect the engineer-architect to be outpaced by any software engineer. Someone who knows what good code looks like, and what a good OO design is beyond just “abstraction” and “interfaces”. Someone who knows what SOLID means (even if they can’t remember what the acronym stands for). Evidence of building others, taking ownership, getting results. Evidence of overcoming challenges. Evidence of influencing senior people. Evidence of self investment, training or learning. Evidence of working with a development or ops team to design, deliver and validate architectural decisions. Including retrospective actions on feedback. Making Mistakes And yet there is no guarantee of . Even if you follow everything I’ve said you may still reject the right person (no big deal since they will get another job) or worse accept the wrong person (always painful when it doesn’t work out). You have to work hard to integrate new hires into your teams and your culture. But I hope lessons I have learned will help you in your search for the right architects. successful hiring . We’re always on the look out for great architects who want to work with us to build great software that meets user needs

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Ask students what they want to create when they grow up, not what they want to be. This was the mantra of , the two-day business building program for kids run by . Lemonade Stand Collective Campus brought together 13 ten-year-olds from different backgrounds and parts of Melbourne to develop their entrepreneurial mindset and capabilities. Lemonade Stand CEDA recently which found that 40–60% of Australian jobs will be replaced in the next 10 to 15 years with technology and offshoring driving these changes. As such, the need for today’s children to be adaptable and develop the ability to reinvent themselves has never been greater. There’s no longer such thing as a “sure bet” when it comes to occupations. Accounting and law graduates are now finding scoring a gig after University released a report increasingly difficult. Our Lemonade Stand Program Our program combined a healthy dose of theory with practical hands-on application and fun in order to support engagement for what were nine hour days (50% more than what they’re used to at school — it’s okay, we survived!) We first got the kids to draw the future which delivered some very interesting insights into the way children that have grown up with technology think. Robots (and robot police!), teleportation systems, drones and hover bikes were some of the features of tomorrow’s landscape with some of the darker drawings encompassing robots taking over (either these kids genuinely fear artificial intelligence and machine learning taking over or they’ve been watching too much Terminator 2). ‍_The future according to ten-year-olds_ We then delved into business fundamentals 101 and got the class to develop their understanding of different concepts such as products & services, business names and branding, customers, location, competition, packaging, supplies, costs, pricing, marketing, sales, financing and budgeting. We used a lemonade stand as a case study to help hone the children’s understanding of these different concepts. The children were lucky enough to be surprised by a guest speaker, straight from Silicon Valley, on day one of the program. Chrys Bader gave a five minute talk and answered a number of questions from the class on how he went about building an app that scored more than 15 million users and over US$25 million in funding. Secret app’s Chrys Bader from Silicon Valley’s Secret App giving an inspirational talk One of the key messages that Chrys delivered was that he learned how to code by breaking things and that each time he broke something he’d learn what not to do and be one step closer to the right answer. This was the perfect segway into day two as we dived into Lean Startup for Kids. The whole point of this exercise was to make them comfortable with concepts such as embracing small failures as a means of learning in order to make critical changes to their business models. We used examples of businesses that children could relate to like an ice cream parlor to help bring home this message. We were quite encouraged when one of the parents dropped off their child for day two and said “the first thing he said when he got home was that it’s okay to fail as long as you fail small and learn and have enough money leftover to make changes.” This mindset is a far cry from the ‘avoid failure at all costs’ mantra that is the social norm throughout schooling and the workplace. However, if we only ever take safe bets and avoid the path less traveled, we are unlikely to differentiate ourselves and almost sure not to innovate. We gave the example of how Kutol, once a wall cleaner, ‘pivoted’ and became Play-Doh, a brand all of the students know well and love. Design thinking concepts featured on day two as we introduced the children to customer jobs, journey and ethnographic mapping by asking lots of why questions. Once children had honed in on a number of problems, they were introduced to ideation tools such as analogs and antilogs, the strategy canvas (using Nintendo’s Wii as an example) and the innovation card game, GEElab’s . Futuredeck Ideas included a video game sharing platform, an all access pass for sports and recreation facilities and a gamified event and social network for fitness buffs. ‍_Ideating with FutureDeck_ Having decided on a solution, we guided the class through the completion of a business model canvas and subsequently, prototypes! Prototypes developed included mobile apps (using POP), web prototypes (using and ), lego prototypes, play-doh prototypes and perhaps, the most exciting for the class, 3D printed prototypes. Instapage Launchrock One of the many landing pages the kids created to test market appetite We were joined by our guest facilitators from 3D printing company Protoworks who taught the kids the basics of CAD design and had them print their designs on an Ultimaker 3D printer. ‍** ** An introduction to the world of Computer Aided Design ‍_3D Printing in action_ Finally, after all of the hard work of identifying problems, creating solutions, defining business models and developing prototypes, we asked the kids to develop pitch decks to present their ideas to the teachers, parents and resident startups at Collective Campus, which were an overwhelming success, scoring rave reviews from all in attendance. ‍_One of our presentations — Sports Courts for All_ It’s obvious to us that kids really enjoy learning about business if it is pitched at the right level and with the right tools. The concept of empowering themselves to build whatever they want is a compelling one for all concerned. It’s encouraging that the Federal Government’s singled out running a national Lemonade Day in schools to teach children business and embed entrepreneurship in the broader education curriculum. Policy Hack initiative We are happy to be playing our part in this initiative by taking charge and delivering a program that both children and parents thought was a success. Practicing what we preach at Collective Campus, we learned a lot from the experience — what went really well, what could be improved, what didn’t work so well — and will take these learnings into subsequent iterations of the program. It took us four months to go from idea to delivery, notwithstanding the fact that our primary focus and majority of our time is spent on innovation consulting for large organisations and educational workshops and events for adults, leaving little time for anything else. This is a testament to the startup and entrepreneurial mindset which is all about “getting **it done” and learning by doing, as opposed to paralysis by analysis and delayed, outsourced decision making which is prevalent across many sectors of our economy. In an age when lost productivity , teaching our next generation how to move with the speed of a startup and empower themselves to take control and make decisions can not come soon enough, particularly in an age where the rate of technological disruption and change means that standing still is not an option ( ). costs the Australian economy more than $305 billion each year 65% of the Australian economy faces significant disruption We need to encourage discovery, not just delivery, amongst today’s youth and we welcome other organisations to join the movement and foster a change in mindset amongst tomorrow’s leaders. But don’t take our word for it on the success of the program, hear from one of our students (who turned up to class in a Facebook tee on day one and a Google tee the next!) talking about his Lemonade Stand experience below! We’ll be running the Lemonade Stand program again during the Easter school holidays. Details can be found here ! <iframe width=”560" height=”315" src=” " frameborder=”0" allowfullscreen></iframe> https://www.youtube.com/embed/l5kJ4o5dWaY

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Lemonade Stands and Prototypes — Successfully teaching kids entrepreneurship

Alaskan singer-songwriter, author & speaker Janie Lidey at The Castle Recording Studios near Nashville What is needed to take a “ ” You wait for the right time, you wait for the right place, you wait for everything to be ready. That’s a lot of waiting. Maybe you shouldn’t wait. Take a deep breath, gather up all of the inner strength you can, and just go for it. Leap of Faith? “ ” says TV host in a recent video, where he talks about the path to success. It requires a jump, usually without an obvious parachute. This really got me thinking back to the I have taken in the past, and asking myself, If you have not seen this video yet, I have included it on the end of this article. Jump! Steve Harvey Leaps of Faith What leap should I be taking right now, but have not? Am I holding back? My Leaps of Faith Shortly after graduating from college, I really wanted to get into the computer industry. It was really difficult. Most jobs were at computer hardware companies, the software industry was in its early stages and the internet was non-existent. Finally I found an “in” but the company was having budget constraints at the time. I took a deep breath and offered: “ ” I was low on funds, but took that anyway. Six months later I was a Vice President at the company. It was a great opportunity that changed my life and my career path! I will work for free for 3 months and then let’s see where it takes us. Leap of Faith My next was to move from Los Angeles to Seattle to further my computer career. Seattle is where the was booming. I packed everything I owned in my hatchback and drove up to Seattle one December in the middle of a snowstorm. I had limited funds and no job lined up. No apartment either for that matter. A huge that was quickly rewarded. I became Vice President of Sales & Marketing at a software company two weeks later. Seattle was a life-changer for me. I met both of my wives there. Leap of Faith Software Gold Rush Leap of Faith Wait, that doesn’t sound quite right, does it! Later I took another to quit my job and co-founded a company that worked with Gary Larson and The Far Side. What a ride that was! I discussed that wild and whacky adventure in an earlier post on Medium: . Leap of Faith https://medium.com/@sxfranklin/the-amaze-inc-far-side-story-97904440f171 I went on to found several other companies in the Seattle area and helped many more. For me, the 1990s were just one after another. And it was very rewarding. Leap of Faith Find Your North Star The last few years I’ve been helping others take that . One of my inspirations is an Alaskan artist that I’ve been working with, . For over 20 years, Janie was a high school music teacher in Anchorage. But then came that time for her to follow her passion, to take a , and do the unthinkable: Leap of Faith Janie Lidey Leap of Faith Quit her safe teaching job and concentrate full-time on her own music! Today Janie is an inspirational singer-songwriter, author and speaker. She has written a book and some amazing songs, including one appropriately titled, Her latest CD is “ ” and encourages all of us, to find our North Star — our identity and direction, to develop our strengths, follow our leadings, and to fearlessly take that . Janie gets invited to participate in many conferences because of her inspiring story and thematic messages. As I write this, she is performing at a conference in San Diego. Leap of Faith! North Star Leap of Faith Steve Harvey says JUMP! This JUMP video by Steve Harvey is going viral out there and I’m glad it is. Learning to Jump is such a key part of success. I encourage you all to watch it. I must add that I’ve always liked Steve Harvey as comic TV personality but it went much deeper when I watched his eulogy for Bernie Mac , a national treasure. Steve would not be where he is today without taking several “jumps.” And what he showed us lately is that when he makes a mistake, he handles it with class and uses it as a lesson for us all. Way to keep Jumping , Steve Harvey. Bravo!! Here is Steve Harvey’s JUMP blog on Medium: https://medium.com/@SteveHarvey/you-ve-got-to-jump-to-be-successful-538cb7ecf6c1

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JUMP! It Takes that “Leap of Faith!”

AANC / Via aancinc.org Dear Theodore, My name is Frankie, and six months ago I graduated from Stuyvesant High School. I decided to take a Gap year to pursue a . Fast forward 6 months, and I’m a on Backstage. I come across Christopher Fung’s website and his , “SHAM’. There wasn’t a personal email so I sent one to you, his manager. If it isn’t too much to ask for, would you be able to forward this email to Christopher? career project I know that I want a career in film acting. But I’m a little discouraged, a little hesitant, and confused. It doesn’t help that my parents just don’t get it. From Christopher’s bio I see that he followed a traditional path for the most part before venturing into being an entrepreneur. I’m asking for help, some advice. You must be super busy with work, but if you could spare half an hour out of your day some time in the past coming weeks would you be available for coffee? I’d love to ask you questions about the industry, for advice, and just things in general. I know I’ll come out of it with something new. It would be an honor. Thank you so much in advance, Frankie — — Hi Frankie, Great to hear from you! It’s inspiring to see that you’re following an unconventional path based on what you know. You know you want to act, and you’ve reached that realization much earlier than I did. It may sound strange that, while I’m a big believer in reaching out to mentors, I also believe that advice can slow down those who are innately creative. Actors, by definition, are creatives. We choose to perform because we accept that every person holds in themselves infinite possibilities. So I’m a bit hesitant to give you specific advice, but I’ll try to share what I know. You may come from a background with hardworking minority parents who are conservative in their worldview because they haven’t been able to take much risk to get to where they and you are today; however, because you have the opportunity to more broadly define what fulfills your life going forward, you should seize that with zeal. If after two candid and deep conversations with your family, they completely disregard the possibility of the career you have a passion for, you can honestly and freely leave the domain of those expectations and attend auditions at every moment you’re not working your survival job. If you decide you’re still curious to learn in the format of school, especially in the field of acting, you might try your hand at Tisch; see where the curriculum and social network bring you. If you decide on some combination of the above, have spent six months or a year auditioning for projects that pique your interest but truly don’t have the diverse role you want to play as an Asian American man, you might resolve to create your own work and assemble all the moving parts to bring it to life. That’s more or less what happened with me. Regardless of what happens, know that you won’t starve because your mind and body have built-in instinct to keep that from happening — so you can sleep knowing that you have always had and will always have the independence to feel and do what means most to you, should the scenario arise that you lose financial and moral support from your family (which is never permanent; love needs distance to grow) — and, just as importantly, that you will only ever have dignity and happiness if you apply yourself as your heart (not your head) nags and surround yourself with people who feel the same way, love your work, and express that it inspires them to do the same. Sorry for the diarrhea! I hope that’s helpful. Happy New Year and brightest wishes for your exciting endeavors ahead. C H R I S

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Dear Frankie from Chris

I almost never drive. I walk two miles to work along a bus line and hop on the bus when it’s too cold or I’m running late. Occasionally a neighbor driver will pull over and offer a ride or a neighbor cyclist will pull over and walk along and chat with me. The company is nice and occasionally I accept a ride. This morning I had to drive in to the office. I have a meeting in Hartford and CT’s regional transportation to the North is nearly non existent. (That’s changing for the better soon.) On the way in a woman was desperately . I could tell she had just missed her bus. I gave her a ride down the bus line and let her out where I had to turn. It felt good and I enjoyed the company. I’ve had the thought a few times while passing bus stops that I should offer to give folks a ride downtown. I haven’t because i feel like I would be perceived as creepy. hitchhiking It’s occurred to me on many morning commutes that their should be an for modern hitchhiking that leverages crowd accountability. Does this exist? Do you use it? Should I use it? app Tw is how hackers start their afternoons. We’re a part of the family. We are now and happy to opportunities. Hacker Noon @AMI accepting submissions discuss advertising &sponsorship To learn more, , , or simply, read our about page like/message us on Facebook tweet/DM @HackerNoon. If you enjoyed this story, we recommend reading our and . Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted! latest tech stories trending tech stories

Hitchhiking — is there an app for that? Have you used it?

… are those calls & conversation where a you are just getting to know totally blows you away with her perspective on a certain market, a or a general trend. Those talks where your mind starts really twisting and thinking and you end the conversation with a long list of new thoughts. It’s not that you’ll necessarily will invest in the person (it might not even be a pitch), but its the new paths such talks can open in the mind … founder technology Talking to innovative and open-minded persons on the regular is such a blessing. Thank you all, and I hope I can give some of that back with sharing my views on certain topics in those conversations. is how hackers start their afternoons. We’re a part of the family. We are now and happy to opportunities. Hacker Noon @AMI accepting submissions discuss advertising &sponsorship To learn more, , , or simply, read our about page like/message us on Facebook tweet/DM @HackerNoon. If you enjoyed this story, we recommend reading our and . Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted! latest tech stories trending tech stories

The greatest aspect of my job as an early stage investor …

Fire up the Waiter, Turn on the Teacher…it’s Time for the Robot Work Day. Across the world robots are performing more roles than you think, especially in Germany and China. Maybe it is the final insult to beleaguered teachers: are taking their jobs. Same goes for waiters and cooks- robots are doing their job too. What happened to assembly line workers thirty years ago is now spreading. Robots are taking over. Well … robots What’s On The Menu For Dessert? Summon The Robot And We Will Find Out In China, and serving it up too. In a country which only a few decades ago had a serious population explosion problem, it seems strange they would hand over jobs to robots, but hey it’s China. They self-report their unemployment just above 4%, which if true is pretty impressive. But experts doubt the validity of that figure and estimate it’s more 10%. Nevertheless, China says its businesses have trouble finding workers. We will probably never know the real truth. robots are now cooking ramen Any way you cut it, there are a lot of poor people in China who might like to cook some ramen for a wage. Nevertheless, China has robot cooks and waiters. And it’s not just in let’s say the cafeteria at HQ of a rich tech conglomerate, either. It’s restaurants in medium-sized cities all across China. On restaurant owner, who installed 7 robots in his Moli Robot establishment, already reports cost-saving benefits. He uses them to cut noodles, greet customers, and serve customers. They cost around $7,400 each, which is around what a human server makes in an entire year. They last three to five years and of course don’t give you any flack about anything at all except maybe failing to get a full charge every night (it takes six hours). Robots Are Helping Out With The Refugee Crisis in Germany German is a notoriously difficult language to master. So imagine the plight facing public schools who are trying to absorb all the Syrian refugee children. Thanks to researchers at the University of Bielefeld, . Nao will be teaching refugee children the basics of the German language, preparing them to enter the schools and someday get jobs in their new country. a programmable robot called Nao will soon be stepping in to help Especially effective with kids ages 4 and 5, Nao uses a tablet to help it interact with kids and teach the language. The tablet features illustrations that support Nao’s lesson of the moment. Germans can expect to see Nao working by the first part of 2017. Pass the Scalpel, Robot 2015 closed out with a first in medicine: the world’s first artificial blood vessel reconstruction performed with help of a robot took place in (where else) China. The patient had pancreatic cancer and needed to have a blood vessel replaced without causing major hemorrhaging. The robot did the surgery but was controlled by a human doctor. The robot decided where to make incisions, however, resulting in smaller scars for the patient. In fact, this surgery usually requires opening up the entire abdomen…not necessary thanks to the robot. Just a few needle-sized holes and they are done. Kohl’s Doesn’t Want To Get Left Behind This Time When traditional retailers were taken by surprise with the popularity of e-commerce, it took them a decade to catch up and compete. Many don’t want to be left behind again when the next new retail trend arrives. That is why they are pouring money into research. Kohl’s is one example: they are looking into driverless cars, robots, and drones to serve up the future of shopping. They have sent engineers to camp out in Silicon Valley, apparently to absorb everything they can and bring it home to Kohl’s. They have also spent $1 billion in three years and they expect to spend another billion in the coming years. What are they investing in? Things like biometrics and AI…not your usual stuff. It is far-reaching and it is not going to have an immediate impact but they hope it will ensure they will be ready when the future arrives. They envision robots performing jobs in the retail stores, so human employees can focus on higher-level aspects of selling, like customer service, creative problem solving and innovation. They are using the same NAO robot used in Germany…only this time NAO is telling customers about new products. They plan to program Nao to hand out sample drinks (that the robots themselves made). Further down the line, they would like to see robots stocking and taking inventory, plus checking out customers. China Wants To Lead The World In Robots, Too , and they are working hard to make that happen. The vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and has made bold statements about the mission of his office: to robotize the nation and become the world’s premier producer of robots and intelligent equipment. Other Chinese officials predict they will have over 400,000 robots in service by 2020. They have already snatched up the honor of hosting the World Robot Conference. Moving quickly from lab to reality, Chinese scientists are making good on these promises. Kohl’s is doing its part to keep up, now lets us see what the rest of the world comes up with. China wants to be robot headquarters for the world Technology More on my blog http://outofoffice.today My recent post: Cutting the Cord 2.0: The WiFi Phone Revolution Business Owners Now Have a Kind of New Cyber Crime to Worry About for 2016 Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer Sees Plan Rejected, Gives Birth to Twins E-Book, Print or Neither? Qwerty, Dragon And Football: Why We Are Still Not Using Password Managers Here is Elon Musk’s Newest Way of Saving the World from Dirty Energy

Assembly

Robots are Doing What Now?

A courier service except they come over with tissues and wine and scrub your phone of the all the pics and vids and texts of your ex, and then leave. Hugs are an optional service. is how hackers start their afternoons. We’re a part of the family. We are now and happy to opportunities. Hacker Noon @AMI accepting submissions discuss advertising &sponsorship To learn more, , , or simply, read our about page like/message us on Facebook tweet/DM @HackerNoon. If you enjoyed this story, we recommend reading our and . Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted! latest tech stories trending tech stories

Start Up Idea:

Search transformed the Internet and brought it to scale. It can do the same for 3D printing. In the 1990s, the Internet was at an inflection point. Access was cheap, thanks to AOL and others, and there was beginning to be quality content. But adoption was slow, because ordinary people didn’t know what they could do online, so they weren’t interested in the technology. What changed that was effective search. Google’s transformed the way people used the Internet, because it allowed you to easily find what you were looking for, and stumble across interesting things you weren’t looking for but were happy to find. That dramatically improved the user experience, and made it far more attractive to ordinary people. As a result, the number of people online . PageRank soared Today, 3D printing is in a similar position. Access has become cheap, as printers fall in price to . And increasingly, there’s interesting content available, in the form of thousands of free on sites like , , , and . But ordinary people still don’t have any idea of what they could make with a 3D printer, so they’re not interested in getting one. less than an iPad models Thingiverse YouMagine MyMiniFactory Pinshape Searching in vain Like the Internet, what’s needed to change this situation is quality search. Today, if you go hunting for a 3D-printable model online, it’s hard to find what you’re looking for. There are many platforms hosting many different models, with new ones all the time. Yes, there are cross-platform like , but these aren’t really mature. This abundance of platforms — with no single “front door” to model repositories — is barrier number one to ordinary users. search engines yeggi (And let’s not get confused about people who use CAD to design their own models to 3D print. They’re like the people who made their own web pages in the 1990s — they exist, but that will never be the way ordinary people interact with the technology.) Most importantly, we don’t yet have any kind of ranked or prioritized search for 3D-printable models. Searching for “toy train” returns hundreds of hits, but in a random order. Unlike Google, where I generally find what I’m looking for in the , I have to scroll through page after page of 3D-printable train models before I find one that fits what I want. top ten returned hits This is a real problem, and so far no one knows how to solve it. Unlike search for web pages, which can exploit information in the hyperlink structure and other data to create a pretty robust priority ordering, there’s no good basis that anyone has invented for prioritizing 3D-printable models. What defines a “good” or “relevant” model? In the absence of an answer to that question, search is now just based on text tags that the model builder decided to attach. It’s worth noting that most search today is driven by this need for prioritization. Google is one example. Similarly, it’s not surprising that Netflix can help you find movies when you know the title, or Amazon can help you find products when you know their names. What’s noteworthy and valuable is that they can but haven’t heard about, or but don’t know about. recommend movies you’ll probably like recommend products you might be interested in The front door to the Internet of Objects The reason this matters is that whoever cracks this problem will have a huge opportunity on their hands. First of all, having a simple, prioritized search capability will attract a large new group of users of 3D printers, who will finally be able to see what they could use the technology for. But more importantly, this tool would quickly become the “Google for objects” — the front door to the new “Internet of Objects” that will become increasingly important. Controlling this door would be enormously valuable. Want to make toys or jewelry as a gift? Want to find a replacement part for something that broke in your home? Start here, and you’ll quickly find the right model to 3D print. The possibilities for advertising, product sales, and any number of other revenue streams are enormous — enough to make the company controlling this technology the next unicorn. While I certainly believe that 3D printing means , finding those objects is rapidly becoming the name of the game. So what’s the holdup? I wish I knew how to make that kind of search engine — if I did, I’d be dropping everything to pursue it. But I don’t, and I don’t think anyone does yet. objects are just data now I hope someone figures it out soon, because I’m getting tired of scrolling through hundreds of pages of models to find something to 3D print. is how hackers start their afternoons. We’re a part of the family. We are now and happy to opportunities. Hacker Noon @AMI accepting submissions discuss advertising &sponsorship To learn more, , , or simply, read our about page like/message us on Facebook tweet/DM @HackerNoon. If you enjoyed this story, we recommend reading our and . Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted! latest tech stories trending tech stories

Amazon

Netflix

Is a search engine for 3D-printable models the next unicorn?

Butts and Memes Abound on , the Hot App That May Already Be Dead Peach - quote from Peach user @internet This past Friday afternoon, , once just slang for a vagina or a butt, was introduced as a new networking platform on the Apple App Store. Thanks to some savvy PR work, and the fact it was , was featured on several tech blogs that same day, with journalists trying to figure out what it was, and what it might be — a new WhatsApp or Snapchat, or an also-ran like Jelly or Meerkat. Peach created by the cofounder of Vine Peach I caught wind of Peach when Buzzfeed’s resident , , and encouraged readers to join and add her as a friend (@kapie). expert in all internet things weird Katie Notopoulos made a quick run down of Peach She promptly posted . goatse Some social apps grabbed attention by differentiation — Snapchat’s private ephemeral content, or Vine’s 6-second loops. , although in practice, it feels like a remix of the most popular networks currently in use. Peach was initially pitched as a messaging platform like WhatsApp Peach’s options for 1:1 direct user interaction, similar to Facebook’s “Poke” Like and comment functions, like Facebook perfected? Peach has ‘em. Usernames with @ prefixes, like Twitter? Peach has ‘em. Gif support, including automated resizing to the width of the platform, that made a content hotspot until other networks followed suit? Peach has it. Tumblr Facebook’s “Poke”? Peach has ’em in spades. Image editing and the ability to make collages, like Instagram? Peach has it, sort of. The ability to write text over images, like Snapchat? Peach has it. Short video loops, like Vine? Peach has ‘em. A that pull up equally fun and inane functions, like Slack? Peach has ‘em. menu of not-really-secret commands Apple exclusivity, like the early days of Instagram and Snapchat? Oh yeah, Peach has it. Peach has some curious and unique features, too. One, like the “shout” function, which allows you to create text in a 1:1 frame over a slate of color or an image, feels like Peach’s killer feature. It’s a simple way to create imagery from scratch, or to remix content from your phone’s camera or from images taken from the web. The first application update, rolled out five days after launch, allowed users to make shouts animate by stringing frames together. the main feed of Peach (notice the Friends of Friends menu next to the “Home” button at the bottom of the screen) A more curious component of Peach, which contributes to its addictiveness, is the counterintuitive feed functionality. The content of each individual user appears on their page in standard chronology, top to bottom, like a reverse Twitter. There’s no central feed for the content of all the users you’re connected with, though, just a constantly reordered friend list that updates based on who has posted content most recently. Then you click into a particular user’s feed to see their most recent content, and scroll through their timelines, then click back to your main friend list, which has likely refreshed with new posts. Unlike Twitter, you can’t include a user in your main feed or easily view the content they post unless the two of you actively connect. Since there’s no , , or functionality, new account and content discovery is a chore. reblog share retweet This all makes the act of consuming content within the app a very active process, and the constant flipping makes it easy to lose anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour within the app before you realize what’s happened. By initially connecting with @kapie, my friend suggestions, visible a swipe away from your main page friend feed, were mostly users with a . I added users mentioned by people I already followed. I posted a few easy jokes — “ ” — and saw users adding me as I appeared in their “Friends of Friends” list. I accepted everyone. “Weird Twitter” aesthetic bush did 9/11 A few more posts and actively commenting on other user’s content, ensuring my name appeared in feeds and suggestions, led to a steady stream of friend requests through the weekend. The more people I connected with, though, the tone of content began to shift. Dadaistic and sarcastic humor started disappearing, and reposted Reddit memes, complaints about nobody reacting to selfies on Tumblr, and ennui of the succ started creeping in. In less than 24 hours, Peach was transforming. As user @internet so aptly put it, “peach is just chaos tumblr.” Then, the sun went down, and the butts came out. “Peach After Dark” may have first appeared Friday night. Regardless, by Saturday, the phrase was humming across feeds, and by Sunday, the thirst was inescapable. Since the platform was named Peach — slang for “butt” — it seemed inevitable that people would post pics of their backsides. There were female backsides. There were topless pics. Men stripped down too, some opting for shirtless mirror pics, others brazen enough to go full frontal. Peach had not been live for 72 hours when a young woman’s query of whether or not she should share a pic was neither surprising, nor ignored — comments would promptly be filled with words of encouragement to bare and share the goods. via @internet By Tuesday, maybe due to President’s final State of the Union address, or far more likely due to exhaustion, Peach After Dark was a whimper. Peach, however, has more to it than a thirst for butts. Celebrity parody accounts abound. If you interact with Beyonce, she’ll “Put a Ring On It” — one of the user-to-user interaction options; John Stamos ruminates frequently on how wonderful it is to be John Stamos; Zooey Daschenel can’t stand Bon Jovi and will not stop until he’s destroyed; multiple DJ Khaleda use the key emoji with exhausting frequency; both Joan Rivers and Anna Nicole Smith are alive, the latter is dangerously thirsty; the entire Kardashian clan reminds everyone else how poor they are; Zac Efron threw a house party the same night as Peach Prom (both actual things that happened Monday night); Ira Glass just can’t get a hang of new media no matter how hard he tries. Brands are on Peach, too. Meme regurgitator 9Gag was active and frantically adding people before the end of the first weekend. Dominos was also on within the first 48 hours, but by Sunday revealed themselves to be a fan account and changed their username, citing fear of litigation. Another Dominos account soon appeared. BBC Breaking News sporadically shares updates on breaking news. . Merriam-Webster shares word definitions paired with twee imagery Parody brand accounts are also on Peach. Ace Hardware, , posts frequently, and solely, about hammers. @zune shares helpful tips about the Zune audio player, such as how to make it self destruct. @cokezero reminds people that it is a refreshing beverage when ice cold, but unable to move about because it is a beverage. still reeling from their embarrassing and very public series of hammer gaffes Non-parody accounts do exist, however. Designers @mattcrump and @lisa_bizzle post literal interpretations of memes and daily Peach logs. @internet regularly reminds younger Peach users they should be studying for school and going to bed. @cereal demands that Peach users eat their cereal. @ThePeachOfGod assures users that it is abandoning the , so users can unfollow it on Twitter — obviously a troll of the Twitter account. @filth posts absurd illustrations made within the “Draw” feature. Dozens of other users sporadically post content that would fit in with the . oft-mocked Twitter account @TheTweetOfGod “Weird Twitter” list created by Notopoulos If you do have a thirst for butts, though, there’s an account called @buttgifs. They post gifs of butts. I didn’t add them, they added me As the days go on, the “chaos Tumblr” moniker feels increasingly appropriate. The option of anonymity, combined with the robust text and image options native to Peach, quickly made it resemble Twitter and Tumblr. The former because of short text quips and an overwhelming number of celebrity parody accounts; the latter because of the seamless ability to share gifs or, with the touch of a button, a twee way to broadcast the name of the song, television show, or book you’re currently consuming. Early trends on the platform, predictably, included users making bemused posts about not knowing what Peach was or how to use it. The “Draw” function was used to make images of dicks. “Shouts”, the ability to make a text and image macro, were used to make peach puns. The gif function, which allowed users search GIPHY using a word or phrase, were used to “Gif your name”. Users wondered who would be the first breakout personality of Peach. iOS exclusivity was celebrated; the inevitable arrival of Android users bemoaned. a post made with Shout Users commonly lamented they couldn’t connect their Tumblr to Peach, and soon were using “Shout” to share their Tumblr, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram handles. By Saturday, at least one Twitter direct message group was formed and active, where users could more efficiently interact with one another. via @rora As the novelty wore off for early adopters — referred to as “OP” for “Original Peach” — and more users came in from Tumblr and other networks, my feed shifted noticeably. The content from users I’d connected with, as well as what was visible in my Friends of Friends menu, featured fewer deconstructionist jokes and more public introspection, k-pop and 1D fandom, and selfies. Actual fights and drama materialized between users, leading some celebrity parody account holders to unmask themselves in dramatic fashion. Frustration with work, or school, or parents, or loneliness, or clinical depression, or a lack of a boyfriend or girlfriend quickly outpaced the initial deconstructionist and self-aware sarcasm I’d initially enjoyed. The raw emotion on display felt like high school, with more selfies, and butts, and cliques. The mix of content and emotions and jokes constantly updating my feed, since I never rejected a connection request, was increasingly disparate. Peach was just Chaos Tumblr. When the first app update appeared Tuesday afternoon, fixing some stability issues and adding the animation aspect to Shouts, . Another round of pending updates was announced Wednesday night, including better ways to manage friend lists, increased privacy control, direct messaging, and bio sections for user profiles, suggesting the Peach development team is trying to listen to users and . some had already declared Peach dead capitalize on strong initial download figures In a few months, it’s entirely possible Peach will be nothing more than a punchline with a “moldy” pun in the tech and media community. It could be a favorable alternative to particular sects of Tumblr as long as it remains ad-free, or parts of Twitter as long as it remains fun. Personally, I suspect I’ll continue to occasionally open Peach to . I’ll almost certainly use Shouts to generate assets for my other personal networks. Call the police, however, if I ever threaten to participate in Peach After Dark. shitpost Joe Filipas is not quite weird enough for Weird Twitter. He works in advertising in Minneapolis, and is a video producer in his free time. You can connect with him on Twitter at @joefilipas , or on Peach at @peachinfluencer, neither of which include images of his butt.

Apple

Slack

Techcrunch

Twitter

“Peach Is Just Chaos Tumblr”

Have you ever noticed that people look like their dogs? Or how older, start to look alike? is no different. Companies actually look like their leaders. There is not only a tone at the top — there is a personality, beliefs and even a “look” from the top. Company begins, and ends, at the top. married couples Business culture A CESAR DOG FOOD CAMPAIGN FOCUSED ON HOW WE LOOK LIKE OUR DOGS. COMPANY CULTURE COULD BE COMPARED THE SAME WAY. We once worked with a ripped CEO. He had arms that Popeye would be jealous of. We looked around the company and everyone else, for the most part, was in great shape. The fully-equipped gym in the office didn’t hurt, either. Everyone even dressed like the CEO. We worked with another company with a casual CEO. His clothes were slightly wrinkled. He had a several-day shadow (and not in the hipster way). His office had piles of paper everywhere. Guess what we saw around the company. People with wrinkled clothes, 5-day shadows and messy desks. One wasn’t more successful than the other. In fact, both companies were incredibly successful. Companies take on the character of their leadership. Popeye CEO had a grind it out, work long hours and expect perfection attitude. He was worried that too many of his employees were over-extended. Any guesses where they got that behavior from? There is a reason that people look like their dogs. is that people desire objects and companions that resemble them. They are familiar. From an evolutionary perspective, familiar objects pose less of a threat. We naturally gravitate to them. The theory Furthermore, I’m sure you’ve noticed spouses look like their significant others. This phenomenon is more pronounced after many years of marriage. Why? that we start to make similar facial expressions as we spend more time together. This builds the same facial muscles, which leads to us to looking alike. Studies found Older couples tend to look alike, don’t they? As a leaders, we are in charge of building the right muscles (and atrophying the wrong ones) to achieve our goals. The muscles built — literally — dictate the appearance, values, behaviors and performance of the company. Are you building the right muscles? When leadership changes, the company changes. We worked with a company, under one leader, that cared deeply for the people in the company. A new CEO brought a new guard and the personality of the company changed to focus only on performance. The entire personality of the company changed. This happens every season when a college or NFL coach has outworn their welcome. The next season we see the same players but a different team with different results. That is the impact of the tone at the top. That’s why we focus on . These leaders have built the muscle of putting others first. Guess what kind of leaders work for For You Leaders? You guessed it, more for you leaders. For You Leaders The best way to get what you want and need is to exhibit it yourself. [ ] Like what you read? Get Dando’s leadership advice delivered straight to your inbox. People look like their dogs. More importantly, companies look like and behave like their leaders. People do what people see. Leadership is more about what you do, not what you say to do. Know Building the right leadership muscles and letting others atrophy takes conscious intentionality. It’s really, really hard. The road to leadership heaven does go through hell. But it’s worth it. The muscles you are building (personal attitudes, accountability, work ethic, focus, how you handle stress, etc.) will cascade throughout the organization. Feel Walk around your company and randomly ask five people what your tone at the top is. What do they say? Why do they say this? Ask the same five people about the culture of the business. Does this sound like your actions and personality? What do you need to change based on these answers? Do

Different

Company Culture — what’s the secret?

As we, SMG Consulting Group, begin our 2015 tax preparation season, one of the most common questions we get each year is “how or where can I invest the cash from my tax refund?” Some folks are hesitant to make the traditional investments into stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc because of the Wall Street scammer stories. Other clients are interested in real estate. But, they realize real estate has become an investment that may require a substantial cash down payment as well as maintaining a notable cash reserve for any unforeseen incidents. Now it is not being promoted that the stock market and the real estate industry are bad investments. However, it is our intention to offer an alternative investment option. That alternative investment option is investing into small businesses. With the job market being so uncertain, more individuals are looking to create their own source of revenues by becoming entrepreneurs or they have no other options but to start a business venture to generate some income. These newly created small businesses are increasing in numbers and their growth potential can be stymied due to the lack of capital and/or the strict lending requirements of the banks today. Yet, these businesses can benefit tremendously from cash infusions ranging from $5,000 — $50,000. These small business investments can yield double digit return on investment. Here are some of the suggestions we make when considering investing into a small business. — This is the first recommendation. The reason why is because it leverages your cash investment in several ways, especially if you are maintaining a job. If you are willing to make an investment of $10,000, you should make the first deposit into your own business entity’s bank account. Then, the business entity would make the investment into the small business. By having your own business entity, any expenses associated with you exploring investments and/or managing your investment can possibly be recorded as an expense, which in the tax world expenses reduce taxable income; expenses such as travel, meals, cell phone, etc. These expenses can be either recorded as a loss, which can reduce your taxable income. Create a Tax Savings Business Entity An alternative option can be to defer the expenses by recording the initial investment into your company equity account. Let’s simply define the equity account as the balance the business entity owes the owner. For example, your initial investment of $10,000 is part of your equity account. If you incur an additional $5,000 in expenses, you can add that to your existing equity account balance, which will take your total equity account to $15,000. This means you can withdraw up to $15,000 out of your company with possibly no tax consequences (Consult with your tax advisor on your current tax situation). Put together a group of peers that you are comfortable with helping you make decisions. That group can consist of friend(s), family member(s), an accountant, an attorney, or SMG Consulting Group. With the success of the show Shark Tank, create your own team of sharks that will help you evaluate a potential investment into a small business. Develop an advisory board — — Now that you have your advisory board, you and your board make sure to conduct a solid investigation into any prospective small business. One main criterion is to evaluate the small business infrastructure to determine if the business model is viable and if the business can sustain in order to be able to, at least, pay back your initial investment. Perform your own due diligence — Take into consideration that the best investments are the ones you play a significant role. Therefore, prior to making an investment, identify how you can help out the business venture, whether that is being on an advisory board, finding new customers, and/or making a key connection for the business. More importantly, stay active on the business, which means understand what’s going on and monitoring the progress of the business. This kind of participation can help you establish your entrepreneurial identity as well as protect your investment. Make Sure you have a Voice — Every investment will not generate a Facebook return on investment (ROI). The goal is to receive a ROI that is higher than the other traditional investments and definitely higher than what todays banks’ interest rates pay out. In the event you invest $10,000 and you get back a total payment of $15,000 (Principal & Interest) that’s a 50% ROI. Not too many investments out there yielding that kind of ROI. Manage your Expectations — Get to know the people running the company. Make sure they demonstrate their passion for their business venture as well as bring you comfort by being able to clearly define and exhibit the company’s business objectives. Keep in mind, once you make the investment, these are the individuals you are establishing, possibly, a long term business relationship. Invest into the Management Team Conclusively, like any investments, there are no guarantees and there are risks involved in investing in small businesses. However, we tend to believe the pros out way the cons. When you perform your own evaluation, you are minimizing your risk, and you will probably see a higher return on investment than the traditional investments’ yield. Good luck with small business investing! is Managing Partner of SMG Consulting Group, LLC a full service consulting firm that inspires entrepreneurship, business development, and building wealth through business ownership. Gary Stephens

An Alternative Investment — Small Businesses

After 6 months of hard work, 3 months of build and 2 months of testing, Tab Dating has now OFFICIALLY launched in the Chrome Store for London peeps. Super proud to be launching this. You can install it for FREE at UK www.tabdating.com Some screens below, and more than welcome! feedback Learnings to date to follow…

We launched Tab — the dating chrome extension.

RANT WARNING From Wikipedia;“ is a business-oriented . It is mainly used for .” LinkedIn social networking service professional networking When was launched in 2003, it provided that service; you could connect with ex-colleagues, colleagues and school friends. You were able to focus on making meaningful connections. LinkedIn Now, it is just a place for people to try and push their services on you or for you to see endless “inspirational” quotes (most of them allegedly from Richard Branson). Recently, I have been contacted about infrastructure, services and recruitment. Even a cursory look at my profile would tell you that none of those are my areas so thanks for the offer but I don’t want to arrange a call with you to discuss something that I know nothing about. software If you are trying to network with someone on LinkedIn, at least do you research and find out what the person is responsible for before making unsolicited contact. To me, LinkedIn is becoming an annoyance rather than a useful networking tool. Oh, and I am sure that Richard Branson has said lots of inspirational words but rather than everyone sharing them, why don’t you just act on them? is how hackers start their afternoons. We’re a part of the family. We are now and happy to opportunities. Hacker Noon @AMI accepting submissions discuss advertising &sponsorship To learn more, , , or simply, read our about page like/message us on Facebook tweet/DM @HackerNoon. If you enjoyed this story, we recommend reading our and . Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted! latest tech stories trending tech stories

What has become of LinkedIn?

Ray Bradbury’s and depicts human lives so consumed by that the humans literally and figuratively ceased to exist. There is a common that computers and are our without the thought of the consequences to allowing technology to interfere with our lives so much. The Veldt There Will Come Soft Rains technology idea technology future These stories remind me of how some people have stopped looking for cars before crossing a street which shows how dependent humans are to the tiny computers, that such a basic things is now ignored to the point it literally kills. Another example of humans losing touch with reality is when children stay inside to play video games rather than going outside, which is exactly what happened in . The lack of discipline from parents does not help the situation either. Many parents are engulfed in their work or phones that they spoil their children, encouraging the anti-social behavior who then teach their children the exact same habits. This snowball effect will bring society to its knees and to an extent be the death of society. The Veldt

Technology will eat us alive.

This year it’ll be 11 years. 11 years since I started my first real job (just-from-school-know-nothing-at-all) in the web industry. 3 years later my (so far) wildest dream became partially true: become a freelancer to serve clients with websites. What started after hours became more and more a fulltime job, which is since 2011. In may I will turn 33 years old and I can say I already worked, learned and failed a lot. I’ve had epic times, as well as some experiences where I would think that life would end in 3–2–1... I’m glad ‘happily ever after’ exists, because without it, I think I would’ve been lost in no time. I’ve been thinking over it for a year now and I believe it’s time to make a switch in my mindset. Freelancing is ‘cool’ (in theory), but let’s face it: it’s actually the same work you do for an employer, with the difference that you have multiple clients, a bigger responsibility and more taxes to be paid in the end (Long Live Belgium). Don’t get me wrong: I’m not looking down on my job or anyone else who’s freelancing his *ss off, but for me I’m losing my drive. Now we’re two weeks in 2016 already. This year I’ll be changing from freelance to entrepreneur (Time for a new status-option, Facebook!) and my main focus will be to create sustainable businesses, with real solutions for multiple persons / companies at the same time. The change will hopefully make an impression switch too, as I’m not just a freelancer from job to job, but someone who’s giving a professional helping hand. In 2013 we started with . Consider it as a small creative agency in ‘de Kempen’ (that’s in Belgium) which is starting to bloom, making a sticky bond with our clients for all their on- and offline needs. Brandwolves On the other hand things are coming together with and . It’s been a long trajectory, also with some deep falls and high peaks, but as (in dutch, sorry), we’re still heading for a beta-launch in January for and Q2/2016 for . Exciting times coming up! Careerbox CareerWorld mentioned in my other post Careerbox CareerWorld So yes, In fact, it looks like I’m still gonna be freelancing, just with another mindset ;-) And that mindset will be my only resolution. Now tell me, what are your resolutions? P.S.: forgive me for weird sentences and typo’s. I’m not that much of a writer… is how hackers start their afternoons. We’re a part of the family. We are now and happy to opportunities. Hacker Noon @AMI accepting submissions discuss advertising &sponsorship To learn more, , , or simply, read our about page like/message us on Facebook tweet/DM @HackerNoon. If you enjoyed this story, we recommend reading our and . Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted! latest tech stories trending tech stories

Resolutions? I’m gonna stick to one and try to keep it…

It’s no secret that entrepreneurs of color are chronically underrepresented in tech. Much like the ailings of our students, entrepreneurs often come to us with feelings of exclusion and alienation. While being an entrepreneur is a roller coaster in its own right, members of our community are more likely to be navigating the market without adequate funding, space to grow, or mentorship. Put concretely: currently less than one percent of Seed and Series A funding is awarded to Black and/or Latino/a founders. In a nation where the combined buying power of Black and Latino/a communities equals over one trillion dollars, we find that lack of support and representation to be troubling. Fortunately, a lot has begun to change. Programs specifically focused on helping first time minority entrepreneurs have sprouted all over the United States. Hubs and world class accelerators have offered office hours directly targeted at underrepresented entrepreneurs and their companies. Last year, we brought three Entrepreneurs in Residence from three American cities together in the first cohort of the CODE2040 Residency. Based on their experiences, we’ve partnered with Google for Entrepreneurs to expand that program to seven cities this year. Talib Graves-Manns was one of three original CODE2040 Entrepreneurs in Residence. Completing his year and a half long Residency in Durham, North Carolina, we’ve watched he and the other members of cohort one take amazing steps with their communities and companies alike. In the final days to apply for the 2016 Residency, we asked Talib what it’s really like to be part of the program. What prompted you to apply to the Residency? I was visiting Silicon Valley wrapping up a fundraising round around the time of the Residency Program Application announcement and met some members of the CODE2040 team. Within a few minutes of talking to the CODE2040 team members, I knew that these were the caliber of people that I wanted to align with. Upon returning to North Carolina, I completed my due diligence on the history and mission of the org and applied the next day! What is a day in the life of an EIR like? My Day = Business + Community Development + More Business. And if you get it right, an EIR can have their ‘cake and eat it too’. (As my Grandparents use to say). Why are programs like the Residency important? It gives entrepreneurs in communities across the US access to the national start-up scene and resources. Too much of the business support and capital in the tech space is concentrated in the Silicon Valley — that suffocates growth and innovation. In order for the nation to grow, entities outside of the Valley must be fertilized. What advice would you give other applicants/entrepreneurs of color? A simple quote, “Everything you see is just a thought manifested.” Go into the world and manifest your dreams while helping others manifest theirs. (One more thing — if you don’t get selected this round, try and figure out a way to support the EIR and Community in your town! It will pay off in Spades!)

For Entrepreneurs

Innovative technology developer (B.S. in Computer Interaction ’02) From New York to Puerto Rico, Kotthoff is changing the way people interact with technology. He’s a user-experience designer, and works with computers to make human lives and navigating technology a little bit easier. While at MBU, Kotthoff was heavily involved with the student business organization, sife, and found support from the organization’s sponsor, Associate Professor and Business Chair Brenda Bradford. “MBU really prepared me mostly by stretching me beyond my comfort zones and to accept that sometimes we have to forge our own paths,” said Kotthoff. Since, he’s continued to create new opportunities by founding his start-up, Radar_APPS, Inc. Here, Kotthoff and his team continue to develop technology that would automatically show discounts and information of nearby products, and help shoppers avoid selected ingredients such as gluten. He has supported other startups including Fanfueled.com, Knovation, and Adeptly. Kotthoff has also worked with corporate brands including Encyclopedia Britannica, Sears, AllState and Monsanto. A story of shining on. Originally published at www.mobap.edu .

Allstate

Zones

Jonathan Kotthoff: Alumni Success Story

If the words privacy, confidentiality, data protection, and security strategy are not a part of your company’s discussions, then you may have a serious problem. These days, it is unlikely that any company is immune to the possibility of a security breach. It seems like almost every single week there is “shocking” news of a massive online intrusion, with analysts usually estimating that the personal data of millions of employees or clients may have been affected. However, this isn’t exactly shocking anymore. As much as the media enjoys sensationalizing stories, people cannot be surprised that this is such a regular occurrence. Data is powerful and valuable, and as long as this is true, there will be shameless individuals seeking to capitalize on it in any way possible. As a result, company leaders, and the parties with whom they transact, such as consultants and legal counsel, must proactively and aggressively outline a coherent security strategy that focuses on the vigorous protection of any and all company data, including matters contained within a company’s internal contracts (such as ), as well as information pertaining to all external contracts. Failure to do so has the potential to inflict serious harm on a company, ranging from the financial drain associated with cleaning up the mess to the possibility of an irreparably damaged reputation and lost business. Plus, if it is internal data relating to employees or IP matters, there is the potential for endless, costly litigation. employee agreements There are various ways companies can go about securing company data, and at the minimum, all software solutions that are utilized for handling sensitive company information, including the information contained within contracts, should have security at their core. Here are four simple yet powerful features that smart leaders look for to protect confidential company information. Strict Access Controls Any software that is used to store sensitive information should have the ability to limit access. In general, a solid solution will provide administrator roles, allowing anyone with such designation to access and oversee all stored data. In addition, there should be permissions-based roles that restrict a user’s ability to access information s/he doesn’t really need to view. This reduces the number of individuals unnecessarily accessing and viewing any confidential information and diminishes the possibility of it becoming intentionally or inadvertently disseminated. Two-Factor Authentication Data can’t just be stored on a password-protected hard drive or in an online repository. There has to be more than the typing of a word and perhaps some numbers and symbols between your data and prospective hackers. requires anyone seeking access to a specific solution to enter more than one password at different entry points. This is the single most effective thing smart leaders implement at their company to protect from data breaches. Most email clients already have two-factor authentication, and any software with security at its core will offer it as well. And the good news is two-factor authentication is simple, effective, and usually free. Two-factor authentication Advanced Encryption Important company data that is saved electronically needs to be encrypted. A secure system should encrypt data both in transit and at rest. This makes data unreadable should a system be accessed by unauthorized parties. Audit Logs In addition to preventing people from accessing data and requiring strict entry protocols, it is important to monitor any data-related activities. Fortunately, many software solutions track all actions taking while using them. Thus, if something specific is inappropriately revealed, it will be a lot easier to trace it back to the source. There is a common misconception that robust security measures require the investment of exorbitant sums of money, but this just isn’t true anymore. Depending on your company’s unique needs, there is no doubt a solution out there that can effectively protect your company’s data at a reasonable cost. This post originally appeared on the ContractWorks Blog . is how hackers start their afternoons. We’re a part of the family. We are now and happy to opportunities. Hacker Noon @AMI accepting submissions discuss advertising &sponsorship To learn more, , , or simply, read our about page like/message us on Facebook tweet/DM @HackerNoon. If you enjoyed this story, we recommend reading our and . Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted! latest tech stories trending tech stories

Trace

Transit

How Smart Leaders Protect Company Data

is a buzzword we hear a lot of recently, thanks to big brands like Lululemon and Toms Shoes. Brand Ambassador They have shown us how a brand ambassador program can truly benefit your business: by spreading the word and enabling you to acquire new customers in a cost-effective way. The key to a successful brand ambassador program is picking and choosing your brand ambassadors wisely. It is okay to say no to some; not every power user or loyal customer is going to be right for representing your brand. An easy way to remember what to look for in each brand ambassador is by counting the 4 C’s. 1. Creativity Why would you want your brand ambassadors to be creative? So you do not have to do all the work! Running a brand ambassador program can be a full time job in itself if you constantly need to monitor your brand ambassador’s interactions with your customers. The best kind of brand ambassador is going to be innovative enough on their own to come up with ideas that will initially engage and start conversations with potential new customers. It is important that you provide clear guidelines to your brand ambassadors on how they can express themselves through your brand. If they encompass all of your expectations, do not be afraid to give them a little leeway with creativity. Your customers will be able to tell if the reactions of your brand ambassadors are genuine or not. 2. Connections Anyone can be a brand ambassador, but a great brand ambassador is going to possess confidence. And with confidence come natural leadership skills and the ability to build relationships. One way to judge this is to check if your potential brand ambassador has an established online presence. A great brand ambassador will be aware of their connections on LinkedIn, mentions on Twitter, and be a part of several groups or forums related to their industry in order to establish themselves as a thought leader in their field. They do not need to have thousands of Twitter followers to qualify, but a decent-sized will help you decide if they are capable of creating connections and nurturing them. network 3. Culture Fit A brand ambassador is a representation of your brand, so it is important they stay professional while emulating the company culture fit. For example, a brand ambassador for Red Bull is going to act and promote a brand much differently than a brand ambassador for Microsoft. A Red Bull brand ambassador is going to embrace the culture of the brand by attending sporting and music events while maintaining a high energy. A brand ambassador, known as a “Microsoft MVP” is more about sharing their expertise with others. They support the brand by displaying the logo on their resumes, online profiles, and in their email signatures. Every brand ambassador program is different and a true expression of your brand’s personality. The brand ambassadors you want are the ones that match the behavior and embody the personality of your own brand. Microsoft 4. Care It is much more powerful for customers to hear why a brand is great from other customers just like them, than from the business itself. However, it is too common for brand ambassadors to sit back and enjoy the perks of being a brand ambassador, without actually doing anything to support the brand. The easiest way to fix this is by choosing brand ambassadors that . You started your business for a reason, right? You wanted to solve a problem in a market or make a difference. The people that can also envision that same opportunity are the people you want as your brand ambassadors. care

Microsoft

What to Look For in The Perfect Brand Ambassador

— and the rest of the country is beginning to take notice. In the past few months alone, we’ve seen this reflected by , , — and, as of November 3, . Ohio innovation is hitting its stride Inc. Entrepreneur The Kaufmann Foundation Pitchbook As Pitchbook mentioned in its “Top Investor Tuesday,” four of the Great Lakes region’s top ten most active investors* call Ohio home: (Columbus) Rev1 Ventures (Cincinnati) CincyTech (Shaker Heights) Shaker LaunchHouse (Cleveland) Jumpstart, Inc. This is great news for Ohio, and a testament to the groundwork laid by the program. It tells us that Ohio is creating promising new companies with high-potential opportunities for investors across the state. VentureOhio President and Managing partner Rich Langdale said, “The efforts to grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem are clearly working and effective, as there are more and better investable companies in the region than ever before.” Ohio Third Frontier NCT Ventures As these young companies grow, they will require $633 million in early-stage capital to reach their full potential for institutional ROI and job creation. Currently, Ohio institutional investors have $241 million on hand, creating an early-stage and a significant opportunity for investors who want to take part in Ohio’s growing success. capital gap of $392 million Seeking Investors According to Pitchbook, the need for capital is not exclusive to the Buckeye State. The “Top Investor Tuesday” article also noted that investment activity in the Great Lakes region is the lowest it’s been since 2009, with very few early-stage funds (only 142, about 22% of the total) closing new deals in the past 6 months. VentureOhio director and CEO Tom Walker , “Ohio’s young companies…need and deserve more capital because they are sustainable and growing. But it won’t be there for them, not unless we continue to create more regional investment funds.” Rev1 Ventures said Why Ohio? VentureOhio Chairman and Drive Capital Co-Founder Mark Kvamme placed a bet on Ohio’s nascent entrepreneurial ecosystem when he closed a $250 million fund in 2013. Since then, Drive Capital has relocated four high-potential companies to Ohio including rapidly growing healthcare technology company, Aver Informatics. Aver Co-Founder Kurt Brenkus said “The choice for us was a narrowed down list of Chicago / Denver / Columbus. We chose Columbus because of the characteristics of the city, access to direct flights, location to customer base, cost of living, talent pool, cultural mix of state capital / academic mashup, and choice of living arrangements for those we were trying to relocate. Ohio has the resources to foster great ideas and turn them into winning companies. Accessible mentors, a talented and loyal workforce, and innovative entrepreneurs creating lean startups make Ohio the ideal place to start and grow a company. 2016 will be a big year for Ohio and the Midwest. Will you be a part of it? data includes investments in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin since 2012. is how hackers start their afternoons. We’re a part of the family. We are now and happy to opportunities. Hacker Noon @AMI accepting submissions discuss advertising &sponsorship To learn more, , , or simply, read our about page like/message us on Facebook tweet/DM @HackerNoon. If you enjoyed this story, we recommend reading our and . Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted! latest tech stories trending tech stories

The Opportunity State

-John Lennon Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” I often wonder what it must have felt like to see the Beatles play live in Hamburg in the early 1960’s before they hit it big, or live in in the 1980’s when their culture was just beginning to develop. To witness the beginning of something truly remarkable. To feel the anticipation build and watch a movement grow. To be in the right place at the right time. To invest in the next big thing while the rest of the world is still asleep. Silicon Valley But how many of the living in 1980 Silicon Valley, California and 1962 Liverpool, England “got it”? How many were open-minded enough to recognize that they were witnessing greatness? people The Beatles weren’t “discovered” overnight. The innovative founders of the group spent years creating content, developing their brand, pitching ideas and hearing the word “no” until someone was smart enough to make the investment of a lifetime. 99% of the people in the right place at the right time, listening to the still-undiscovered “greatest band of all time” band did to capitalize on it. nothing How many of the 99% complained to their friends that they were just an “unlucky person” that “nothing good ever happens to” while John Lennon sang “Please Please Me” just a couple of yards away and they ? didn’t even notice And how many of those same people later bought every Beatles record and memorized the lyrics to every song after savvy marketers told them it was good? How many identified themselves as a person who heard the band before they made it big, embellishing the story as the years went by? La vida es buena but you have to open your eyes, your heart AND your mind to see it. Innovation is scary but fun. Risky but rewarding. What if George Martin and Brian Epstein hadn’t invested their social and financial capital in the Beatles? What if Stanford turned out amazing ideas in the 1980’s but no one commercialized it? You don’t have to be creative to innovate but you do need an open mind and positive outlook. Stop thinking and start doing. Your world is full of opportunity and ready for you to make an impact today! is how hackers start their afternoons. We’re a part of the family. We are now and happy to opportunities. Hacker Noon @AMI accepting submissions discuss advertising &sponsorship To learn more, , , or simply, read our about page like/message us on Facebook tweet/DM @HackerNoon. If you enjoyed this story, we recommend reading our and . Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted! latest tech stories trending tech stories

HackerNoon Tech Stories Archive January 14th, 2016

@marcelabenMarcela Benavides

@YourLegalSourceYour Legal Source

@petecamPeter Campbell

@CollCampusCollective Campus

@sxfranklinSkip K. Franklin

@cfungc h r i s 方令中

@benberkowitzBen Berkowitz

@jsessenhausenJan Sessenhausen

@aternoyAlexis Ternoy

@AllisonRhody56Heather Nann

@cfmccormickColin McCormick

@JoeFilipasJoe Filipas

@dandoadvisorsKirk Dando

@SMGconsultingGary Stephens, Jr

@shib88Shib Hussain

@AndrewSpiersAndrew Spiers

@ChelseaIrizarryChelsea Irizarry

@mrvcGlenn Van Croonenborch

@Code2040Code2040

@mobaptistuMissouri Baptist Univ.

@contractworksContractWorks

@TasteofTaylorTaylor Perras

@VentureOhioVentureOhio

@falondonohueFalon Donohue

@marcelaben
Marcela Benavides

@YourLegalSource
Your Legal Source

@petecam
Peter Campbell

@CollCampus
Collective Campus

@sxfranklin
Skip K. Franklin

@cfung
c h r i s 方令中

@benberkowitz
Ben Berkowitz

@jsessenhausen
Jan Sessenhausen

@aternoy
Alexis Ternoy

@AllisonRhody56
Heather Nann

@cfmccormick
Colin McCormick

@JoeFilipas
Joe Filipas

@dandoadvisors
Kirk Dando

@SMGconsulting
Gary Stephens, Jr

@shib88
Shib Hussain

@AndrewSpiers
Andrew Spiers

@ChelseaIrizarry
Chelsea Irizarry

@mrvc
Glenn Van Croonenborch

@Code2040
Code2040

@mobaptistu
Missouri Baptist Univ.

@contractworks
ContractWorks

@TasteofTaylor
Taylor Perras

@VentureOhio
VentureOhio

@falondonohue
Falon Donohue